Montevina’s SHR Vineyard is forty acres of hillside planted to 80% Zinfandel, 13% Petite Sirah and 7% Barbera. This unique vineyard is laid out east to west with every seventh row being Petite Sirah, the thirteenth Barbera, fourteenth Petite Sirah and so forth. The tractor rows run north to south so the grapes picked into the gondola are brought to the winery “blended.”Field blending is an ancient winemaking practice not widely used today. Historically many field blends were made up of Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, and Carignane. Vice President/General Manager Jeff Meyers must have been bitten by a Carignaneas a small child, and we’re glad he was. Because Barbera’s soft tannin and higher acidity would help balance the blend, it was substituted for Carignane.
Field blending begs the question: How does it ripen at the sametime. The answer is simply, it doesn’t. We base picking decisions on the Zinfandel; the Petite Sirahis a typically a little overripe and the Barbera underripe. This situation is normal to Zinfandel whose long clusters (upto ¾lbs) are often beginning to raisin on top where exposed to the sun, with plump saturated berries hanging on the bottom. When the whole cluster is fermented it, all balances out.
After harvest, when the vineyard is going to sleep for the winter, is our favorite time to walk the perimeter of the SHR Vineyard. Zinfandel enters into dormancy much earlier than Petite Sirah and Barbera. The vineyard becomes a hillside blanketed in bright oranges and reds with evenly spaced thin and broad stripes of bright green. If ever anyone doubts we were crazy enough to go to all this trouble, drive east down Shenandoah School Road in late October and after the second curve look to the right up the hill…and never question the craziness of a Montevinian.
The true magic of field blends is co-fermentation. The grapes are brought to the winery “blended,”then destemmed, and crushed into stainless steel tanks. Duringfermentation the yeast convert energy from sugar into alcohol and the alcohol breaks down the cell walls of the skins extracting flavor, color, and aromas. All of these molecules gocrazy bouncing off one another and reacting, thus causing new flavors and aromas not typical to anyof the three varietals…the Fourth Dimension. This extract-aganzamakes the winemakers job easy. The fermenting tanks are pumped over daily and pressed into small oak barrels for eighteen months aging.
In 2005 Montevina Terra d’Oro SHR Field Blend Zinfandel Zin-fluenceis clear. Blackberry flavors are spiked by black pepper. Petite Sirah adds a little tannin, plenty of rich blue-black color and black fig spice. Barbera lightens up the mix with red plum and red cherry juicy fruit. The nose is brightened by lively, fresh hints of blueberries and rose petal.The exotic sandalwood, vanilla, cola, and smoke are the tip of the Fourth Dimension. Fine grain tannin fills the mouth and carries the ripe berry flavors through to a spicy oak finish. The structure,depth, and complexity of this wine leads itself perfectly a lovingly prepared meal savored over a long evening. Try with an herb crusted leg of lamb, spiced couscous, and roasted root vegetables.
